Matrimony Mexican style

Last saturday we were honoured to be invited to a very special event. A Mexican wedding .

We have been lucky to get to know Liliana and Nelson  along with Dr Tony through  the Planned Pethood Clinic in Merida which seems to have been  our second home for the past 2 1/2 years ( time flies when your having fun ?!! ) since coming to Mexico with two old border collies and a cat in tow.

Apart from the fact that in my book they are the best vets EVER they are also the nicest, most caring , lovely people and it is a pleasure to call them friends. So as you can imagine we were very excited to get an invitation to their nuptials.

Nelson and Liliana

Lets start at the beginning because even the invitation was unique in so much as it came with a gift as I guess must be some kind of tradition here.

In the background is our gift, an apron embroidered with both their initials and the cute comic wedding couple.

The invitation said 9 pm .............. yes , 9 pm and that was the actual ceremony not the" shindig" afterwards . That as you can guess came much later.
We arrived at the church a tad early not wanting to be late of course, after all we are British and we still do try to cling on to the vestiges of timeliness although if we stayed here much longer I'm sure that would soon decline. It was quite a novelty in many respects, being early, as we were coming with Jonna and Mimi whose timeliness leaves  much to the imagination at the best of times but hey they came through this time ....

Although, having arrived early we then discovered that the previous wedding was running late..... best laid plans of mice and men?? Go figure. The ceremony started eventually at 9.30.

General guests milling

Bridesmaids milling.

Janet and Stephen milling.

In Mexico there are traditionally two weddings. The civil and the religious. Only the civil is recognised and usually takes place in a government building and performed in private. The religious event is a ceremonial event and has no legal effect. Strange but true huh?

Liliana and her dad.

I thought the ceremony was to be honest going to be a quite staid occasion... you know lots of incense throwing and boring monologues..... but it wasn't in the least it was a very joyful and quite interactive. Mind you it could have been full of boring monologues for all I know, after all it was all in Spanish . But honestly it felt very uplifting.

It looked to me like there were hammock hooks on the church wall too so maybe they are more laid back than I think.






This is a tradition involving a large rosary draped over the heads of the bride and groom to symbolise eternity and unity. The rosary is called a Lazo.

The bride then offers her bouquet of flowers to the Virgin Mary to bless the marraige.

The priest then drinks copious amounts of wine, sharing none and handing out bits of broken crackers to whoever wants a snack to put them on until the real festivites begin. Some people were seen chewing on the crackers upon their return from the altar much to one of my friend's dismay ( who shall be nameless ) who noticed and said that her mother would turn in her grave  to see people chewing on Christ.... you can't chew on Christ she said. Thank goodness she didn't tell me that at the time as it was a real chuckle moment. Not being religious Mimi I don't know these things... oops!



It really is a family affair and both sets of parents join in to bless he newly weds . They could of course just  have been having a little chin wag who knows .... Spanish I say it's all in Spanish how the heck do I know what was going on?



While all this was going on the bridesmaid were wandering around the aisles  handing something out of a  baskets to all the ladies . The  'something' turned out to be pretty little boxes full of confetti. Cute idea.

The confetti girl

 

Close up of the confetti box.

                






The confetti was, as is tradition everywhere I guess thrown outside the church but for us almost in the dark because as soon as everyone got outside all the light went out.
 I guess by now the priest had had a few.... could be weddings could be drinks of the old sacred wine but  I dare say he was tired and wanted to get home after all it was gone 10.30 p.m.

So now onto the soiree..............

The soiree.

The cake.

It was a beautiful setting outside in the balmy night air ( perfect temperature, did I say perfect? guess I did ) The tables were all lit from underneath..... lights not candles...well you never know here?

Enter the bride and groom.

There was a video camera man and spotlight following them around all night, although by this time it was early morning remember. They had their photos taken with everyone in the room and they never stopped moving all night.

Then the band started and never stopped all night not even to draw breath or so it seemed and it was salsa type music, very loud ( Mexicans can't do anything quietly ) and very long. I love salsa but this was non stop salsa.

The bride and groom were never off the dance floor....  Modern 'takes' on time honoured traditions being regularly performed throughout the celebrations. As in the following......

The celebratory garter waving after retrieval from the leg of the bride.

The bouquet throwing. Once thrown the ladies form a conga line and dance through the veiled arch.

Then it's the guys turn to stand on the chair while the men form a conga line .

They then have to conga under the tequila bottle while the groom pours a shot to each person. The line goes around and around until theres no one left who can take any more or the tequila runs out.















Finally the groom is removed to somewhere away from the party and the bride has to sit in the centre of the room while the men strip the groom and bring the clothes to her, piece by piece. She then has to go and dress her husband.......lots of cheering  and if she is too long the band cheekily inform everyone that maybe they are taking time out for some hanky panky . Hanky panky an often used Spanish phrase.

And the party went on and on into the wee small hours

There were glowing wrist bands, balloons and masks. The jollifications never waned , that is they hadn't faltered when we left at around 2 p.m. anyway.

Good luck to Nelson and Liliana it was a wonderful experience to be part of and we will see you soon no doubt at the vets??

As we are on the matrimonial anecdotes. Last December we were invited to our lawyers  grand office opening. Our lawyers are two young people, both  qualified lawyers trying to start a full time business. The office is a converted room at his mothers. Guillermo  is full time and Alejandra teaches English part time and law part time at present.

Unbeknown to Alejandra he was also going to propose. It was lovely watching them get up to thank everyone for coming , only when they had finished Guillermo continued...... it was lovely to watch as the penny began to drop  for the surprised Alejandra. Maybe their favourite song being played in the background started the cogs turning.

                

Good luck Alejandra and Guillermo.

Something you may or may not know about TIM.....

"TIM" is very frustrating, annoying, funny, strange and sometimes quiet amazing. We refer to "TIM" quite a lot, usually though when either of the afore-mentioned descriptive words have been used usually in an exasperating manner, as for example.............

when feeling irrate due to some very weird mexican plumbing defect ( frustrating) or.................

when someone says they will be at your house on Monday but forget to tell you which Monday (annoying)  or ................

they say they will do something manana ( man yahna ) silly me , of course it doesn't mean tomorrow ?
( strange) it means some indefinite time in the future.

 Oh and last but not least .................. you will find TIM  accompanying you in your car on almost every journey in Mexico.

Let me  introduce  "TIM".................."TIM" is an expression sometimes used to convey annoyance at any of a million and one ( not known to exaggerate) incidents that can only produce the exclamation........    'This is Mexico.' ...In short TIM.!!

Often  Tim is accompanied by the rolling of eyes and the upward display of open palms to the heavens with the addition of the expletive ' Huh'.

We have all come to accept that This Is Mexico and things just don't happen the same here as they do 'back home'. It is the most frustrating and amazing place and there is never A Ground Hog day here.

For those of you that don't live in Mexico I thought it would be fun to give you an insight into living here and for those that do live here, remember  ( before I offend someone) it is purely as seen through my eyes only ( all though you may find yourself agreeing to some elements I'm sure) .  It is my point of view albeit slightly warped and tongue in cheek at times. Also,  as we are heading back to the 'frozen tundras' of Canada soon so I thought  this might be a good time to remind myself of some  of the phenomena that can only be Mexico  .

So every now and again I will throw into my blog  a little Mexican 'blogette'.

Thus , here is my first  first blogette on  the wonderful world of Mexico and all her  many facets. Oh just one last thing.... when I say Mexico I say it as a rather sweeping statement. We live in the Yucatan and the Yucatan can be different in some ways to the rest of Mexico... but that's another story. For now 'Mexico' means here in the part of Mexico where I live.

SHOES, SHOES, SHOES, SHOES, SHOES


SHOES, SHOES, SHOES, SHOES, SHOES.








I love shoes, always have done ........ you can't have too many pairs of shoes. As Imelda Marcos once said " I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes. I had one thousand and sixty"

If Imelda had come to here she would have had a ball. One thing that is not in short supply is shoe shops  The big shopping malls have more than their fair share that's true but everywhere you venture here there are shoe shops. Almost every corner, be it down town in centro or in the surrounding small villages and towns you will find shoe shops of some description.

Ticul which we would probably call a fair size market town is about an hour & 1/2 from here. It is where they manufacture shoes so you can probably imagine what thats like. The sandals here are , for the most part amazingly cheap  costing around $8.00 or so . These are mainly  flip floppy type sandals , very pretty and as a rule all you really need . You can of course  get really nice leather sandals and styles that are more 'dressy' but I have to be honest in many instances you get what you pay for.

However , on the practical side , it is recommended to invest in a good pair of sandals as well, as the very flat cheap flip flops are ok for a vacation but if you spend any length of time in them you eventually end up with a duck waddling type gait . Honestly, you hadn't noticed? I can't wait to get my plates of meat into some good sturdy winter shoes I can tell you.

Mexican women love their shoes and really know how to wear them....... well there are some exceptions of course. This being one of them.......

A bit tarty don't you think?

They love the high heals with jeans look. It could have something to do with their height or lack of? It is after all a nation of smaller than average height and we all like to look taller and leaner don't we.

It isn't just the younger women  that like to put on those heels either. Meridian women are very stylish and very smart and can often be seen shopping or out to dinner in their fancy high heels. Whereas I on the other hand have got quite out of the habit  of dressing up and tend to dress more casually. There's no way in the height of summer would you get me into anything other than the coolest of clothes..... to hell with style when you are a constant sweating blob...... one of my many reasons for returning to the 'frozen wastes' who would have ever thought I would want to swop summer for winter....... bliss bring on the hot tub baby.

 My  footwear tends to be of the .... and I hate to use this word ( Stacy and Clinton would kill me ) but comfortable variety too.  What has happened to this fashionista I ask myself............. Can't wait to get into some nice high  fashionable leather boots, you know the kind... impractical for -20 degrees and snowing but look really chic. Yes!!

Sunday afternoon at the Plaza in Merida centro.

Last week at the symphony the soloist was  a piece featuring the piccolo. I have now come to the conclusion that I can live without ever hearing a solo piccolo piece ever again. Bare with me I'll get to the shoes. However during this time of piccolo playing one tries to elevate ones mind to another level to escape the catawalling  of this tiny but piercing instrument . Failing that I began scrutinising the orchestra, as I have been known to do on occasion and here's what caught my eye.........

Very classy.

By the way some people actually loved the piccolo solo .... go figure....

Nowt nor Summat

     Last week was a neither something or nothing ( "Nowt nor Summat" in Yorkshire text) kind of week.
     Fortunately I had an art class to go to on Thursday otherwise the week would have been a wash out. I really love my art classes, well  to be honest its a kind of love hate relationship I have with painting. In my mind I AM a great artist but my brain is having a hard time transfering that knowledge to my hands. I have tried for years off and on with watercolour but I am now trying acrylics.

 

The patio work area.

 I go with a couple of friends  into    Merida every fortnight ( fortnight =  two weeks to the non Brits) The class is 10 till 2 . For  concentrating for  four hours is nigh on impossible, hence lots of wondering around looking at other peoples stuff. I really need to have two paintings on the go at one time..... which is how I read books actually, two at a time.


Classes are held at Greenwood's home in Merida. ( Greenwood is our art teacher) It is quite the setting for an art class, outside in the garden which is wonderful at present as the temperature is perfect. Unfortunately it is already starting to get hotter and with the summer comes the dreaded humidity.... can't wait , I jest of course as everyone here knows I hate the humidity ( but that's a whole new blog)

  

Outside work area.

Work in progress.

 Greenwood and his wife Cherie (pronounced Cherry) are really nice people to be around. Very calming, relaxed, spiritual people. The kind of people I wish I was but know I never ( well it's too late now) will be. Cherie is also an artist too but in wildlife photography.

Greenwood and a couple of my early paintings behind.

 I have tried my hand at crafts too but I have decided I am just not a crafty person. In fact just before Christmas, Carol and Paul who have our local eatery Taco Maya decided to try hosting the first  local Funky Market . Paul is a also a fellow Brit ( lived in the States many years before coming to Mexico ) and Carol is a French Canadian but we don't hold it against her. The Funky Market has since become a regular event but I only attended the one. As you know I get bored easily so one was enough for me. They are fun though and I love seeing such a diverse arena of talent. It's amazing what people can do.




However I did do well   and people seemed to like the stuff so I will let you see some of my work......now contain yourselves I don't want to be swamped with orders ?????.....

My table showing shell balls and other stuff which is hard to see in this picture.

Wood flip flops wall hooks.

Christmas wreath.

Made from palm pods.

These could be used as bread baskets or wall decor.

As usual the week ended with the Symphony on Sunday... another great day.


Maybe the week wasn't such a "Nowt nor Summat" kind of week after all.

A grand day out Gromit?

The Yucatan Symphony Orchestra started it's 15th season and wow what a start. The programme was Johan Strauss and Franz Von Suppe. The orchestras home is the Jose Peon Contreras Theatre but this is closed for renovation so they are performing at the Teatro Armando Manzanero this season.

This theatre is mostly on one floor with a small first floor balcony. This is really a lovely art deco theatre inside and out and was  jam packed as they have reduced their program to just Sunday afternoons .

A little glimpse of the inside. Darn it I should have taken more photos

 It was a rousing performance  by Johann Strauss and Franz Von Suppe with all the familiar classics we know so well but can't always put a name to.

The encore  was brilliantly chosen to get us all clapping  .... The Rodetsky March.

It also gave us all an earworm too.... you know that tune that you just can't get off your brain and can be quite annoying in the end.

We didn't get our tickets until quite late and so most of the better seats were taken which is how we ended up in the neckcricking second row. It's funny what you notice when you are that close too.  For instance, 'd.j's' and stringed instruments !  Overall very dapper looking indeed , never the less on closer scrutiny ... bow ties are skew-iff and collars askew where that meddlesome little stringed instrument has interfered with that overall  touch of elegance but in doing so gave a rather whimsical appearance to the string section.

Also the poor harpist who sat bolt upright waiting patiently for her moment to strum so elegantly just to play maybe three chords. Wouldn't you think they would be better just skipping that bit? After all how many of us would really notice the missing  three chords?

Christopher Collins ( smiler) to the
left of the conductor

Last but not least I have to mention Christopher Collins,  guest first violin. This man plays the violin with such enthusiasm, he almost pops right out of his chair with his conviction to the piece he's playing. You can imagine what he was like when he played the Rodetsky March.... damn now I have the earworm back. He also has this permanent aura of amusement which you can't help but be affected by it. And to boot he is apparently ( not that I am up on these things) world renowned too.

During The Rodetsky March.

   All in all not bad for a little unknown place in the Yucatan.....see
   there are things I will miss. Oh and all this for I about $ 12 and
   thats for the best seats!  Beat that anywhere else in the world?


To finish the day we went to our usual little Italian just off Parque de la Maternidad where as it happens we began the day with a coffee and mooched around the local artists who display there every Sunday.

The usual crew..Jonna, Les and Nan, Stephen.

Parque de la Maternidad.

Best of British

The Brits are in town.........
So last week friends from England arrived for a few days , a few days that should have been longer and there aren't many people you can say that about. Our friendship goes back a good number of years to the  Lynton , North Devon days in England. Jane and Ben ran a posh Victorian double fronted Bed and Breakfast and we ran a three floor Victorian Bed and Breakfast not so posh in the same village. Neither of which we all do now.... thank goodness. They say " I could write a book" well between us we actually could and believe me it would be very entertaining ...... eat your heart out  Fawlty Towers. But hey .... another time maybe.

Jane and Ben live in a gorgeous little Derbyshire  village in the Peak district now. Stone built cottages, dry stone walls, a pub, a church and a  village green....... very English and quite the bees knees. The last time we saw them was about 8 years ago in Sundre,  Alberta. They have this wonderful habit of turning up to visit wherever we are ...... thank goodness . So as you can imagine we had some catching up to do. Also we had to fit a few 'Yucatecan" things in too so it was all go and way too short. They had just come from a few days in Mexico City and are heading for Palenque ( as I write ) then on to Guatemala. 6 weeks in total with only a couple of backpacks and a Galaxy between them...... Galaxy as in a nifty palm type Samsung  computer thingy and not a bar of chocolate just in case you were wondering.

Parwich

We first headed into Merida for one of the evenings.  Jonna and Nan and Les were joining us so we knew we were in for a fun night . I love showing off Merida it is quite the loveliest of cities and Jane and Ben agreed.... phew. They said it was better than Mexico City in many ways. Although having heard what  they said and seen their pictures of Mexico City it sounds like it should  definitely be on the visitors  'to do' list .

We headed for the Plaza Grande first . The Cathedral being at its best when it is lit at night, although it is quite spectacular during the day too. It was the first time I had actually been inside but when you are with Jane you do tend to ' boldly go where no man has has gone before' It has quite an understated elegance I have to stay and I am not a churchy person by any means but I can appreciate it's beauty.

We then went to look at the Museo Casa Montejo. Built between 1542 - 1549 by Don Francisco de Montejo conqueror of the Yucatan Peninsular. It is a fabulous renovation  and well worth a visit. It is located on  Calle 63 x 61 y 60 Grand Plaza.

Casa Montejo

After the culture bit we got down to business and went for an aperitif... that would be a Mojito or two before heading for Panchos Restaurant.

For those who haven't been, Panchos is more touristy than most but we like the ambience and the food has always been good and tonight was no exception. The  flambe steaks were the best steaks we have had for a long time . It's funny but flambe steaks seems to have gone out of fashion these days. I think there was an era when flambe was very 'in' but I am not admitting to a decade. We had such a fun time. I suddenly relised that I was actually sitting at the table with three Oracles. That's what they are called by us anyway. Jonna is our Merida and all things Internet Oracle. Nan is our Chelem , Diario and useless (sometimes useful ) bits of information Oracle and Jane is travel/ tour guide and  general information  Oracle. As you can guess whatever the subject one of them knew something about it., which led to a very interesting evening which invariably led to lots of laughing and general stupidity....... as you probably gathered non of the rest of us are exactly shy and retiring types either..............We were quite a mix of nationalities around the table too. Four Brits, Two Scots and an American. I'm sure there's a joke in that somewhere but I'll refrain. (for now!)

It's the only photo I have of Panchos. ( too dark for our little cameras)
In the photo Les ,Nan and Ben.

So next, Uxmal.  This was jane and Bens only real tourist request . We had been before and as I am not 'into' ruins  but was pleasantly surprised the first  time we went but I did think that I was going to be a little bored the second time around but hey they were friends right? As it happens we were pleasantly surprised again and second time around really enjoyed it........ third time I may have to 'pull a sicky'.

Of course going anywhere with Jane is always a rather unique experience. I remember when we all went on ski holidays together, ah happy days. We nicknamed Jane ' Piste Master ' ( for Americans reading this please  please substitute 'trail' for 'piste',  just another English lesson  for my American friends....oh hold on a minute piste is a french word!? well I'll go to foot of our stairs... yes it is )  she always had the piste  map in hand and the ski trails for the day worked out ahead of time and once on the ski slopes we ' vood vait for zee instructions' from 'meine Piste Master ' Just as well because no one else had a clue. Well done Jane I jest with fondness and gratitude.

Anyway I digress. However, true to Jane's nature she did have all the  information printed out and proceeded as tour guide as normal. There is however one lovely moment that will go down as yet another one of those ' I can't believe it' moments..........

To get this photo Jane accosted a lovely elderly couple who as it happens were English living in Canada. Would they  be so kind as to take a  photo of us, and of course they said yes. Then Jane proceeded to give exact instruction as to how she wanted the picture framed , ruins in the background please , take two in case the first one isn't up to standard etc. All the time she was  being ribbed by us as to what else she would like our friendly snapper to do ( nervous banter I think it was ). The couple were laughing thank goodness and did say that we must be really good friends to be able to
give and take so much banter.....

 Despite all of the above our intrepid photographer did get  the shot. Wether or not it was up to standard .... well who cares.

Uxmal

The weary travelers

The happy wanderers

Hear no, see no, speak no?

 It was a great few days and we are lucky to have good friend who will come to come and see us and also great friends  here  who will come out to play with us.